Aug. 31, 2000 - Colorado regulators will study ways to increase telephone competition by reducing barriers and revamping the way carriers pay each other for use of their networks.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission agreed Wednesday to hold workshops Oct. 6 with the aim of reducing paperwork and filing requirements for competitors and setting standards for the compensation issue.

For customers, the benefits of more competition could yield better and cheaper services, said Bruce Smith, executive director of the commission.

Reducing the amount of information competitors have to file with the commission - such as price lists and service descriptions - could save competitors thousands of dollars and increase the incentive to compete, Smith said. He said that new rules could be in place by year end.

"Removing work that really isn't needed to do business in Colorado is a terrific thing that will lead to a good outcome," said Diane Roth, assistant vice president of government affairs for AT&T Corp., the long-distance phone giant. "It's important from a customer's perspective to look at streamlining regulation so competition can flourish." Regulators also will address the issue of the prices that carriers charge each other for delivering phone calls.

In two recent cases, Colorado regulators have said that phone companies such as Qwest Communications, the regulated monopoly in Colorado and 13 other states, should not have to pay companies such as ICG Communications for data calls that ICG delivers to Internet service providers.

But regulators have also ruled that Qwest is not entitled to network access charges from IGG when Qwest delivers certain kinds of calls. The costs that companies pay each other eventually trickles down to customers.

"From our standpoint, it still causes expenses on the company,"

said Steve Hammack, a Qwest spokesman. "There should be some way to recognize that and be compensated for that."

In another matter, AT&T wants Qwest to lower its access charges for delivering long-distance calls on its local phone network.

AT&T said it pays Qwest 8 cents per minute in access charges for delivering long-distance calls, compared to 3 cents in Wyoming. AT&T typically charges 12 to 15 cents per minute for long-distance service in Colorado for calling plans that cost 10 cents per minute in other states, Roth said.

"If we mark it up too much, we can't compete," she said. "Customers will find alternatives."

The compensation issue is a hot one that should draw a host of competitors - and Qwest - to the workshops, which will be at the commission's offices at 16th and Logan streets.

"We anticipate a great deal of interest," said Raymond Gifford, chairman of the commission.

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